Chapter 3 : A new range of colors

The turn of the century was approaching. In 13 years, Gustave Sennelier had never been without work – in fact, by this time, he had established his name in his chosen profession. He had launched his first range of extra ne oil paints. Oil paint, in the recipe that dates back to the 15th century, had traditionally been based on pigments that were either vegetable or mineral, animal or synthetic, bound with an oil (linseed oil, soya, poppy or nut). To launch his new range, the first task of Gustave Sennelier was to research the best pigments. He traveled throughout Europe: to Germany, England, Italy and France in order to make contact with the finest manufacturers. “The choice of each pigment is crucial as the same pigment becomes the base or the root of the balance between shade over several families of products. It’s very important that a pigment will be stable and the palette of tones will not vary,” explains Dominique Sennelier, who joined the company, at the side of his father Henri, at the start of the 1960’s. At the end of the 19th century, Gustave Sennelier introduced some new shades. Cinnabar Green and Transparent Brown came to join the 93 other tones of the range. “Chinese orange”, a color that works well for gradations, is exclusive to Sennelier. The Orientalists were crazy about it.According to the P.Richard's Book